Vegetarian Nachos

Ten portions of vegetables and fruit everyday is a lot to get through! Basically you need to include fruit and/or vegetables at every meal or snack in a day to make it happen.Which isn't such a bad idea really as fruits and vegetables are full of so many wonderful nutrients we really should try to eat as many as we can.

One good way to get some extra vegetables in, especially if you have fussy eaters, is to hide them. Grating carrot and courgette into a Bolognese sauce is a great way to do just that. And not only does it add a boost of vegetables it is also a great way to make the meat stretch to feed more people.

Another way is to include one or more vegetarian meals to your weekly repertoire. This is a weekly regular in our house, it’s basically our Friday night takeaway – a one pot wonder!

The leftovers are great on toast topped with cheese!

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 carrot, grated

2 – 3 mushrooms, finely chopped

3 – 4 cups of leafy greens, finely chopped (see variations below)

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon stock powder (vegetarian, beef or chicken)

Pepper

1 x 400g tin chilli beans

2 Tablespoons finely chopped capsicum

2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

Chilli (optional)

Corn chips

Sour cream and grated cheese (optional)

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over a medium heat, add the onion, garlic and celery, cook until the onion begins to soften. Add carrot mushrooms, leafy greens, tomatoes, soy sauce, stock and a grind of pepper. Simmer until the liquid has almost all cooked and reduced away. Turn the heat to low, add the chilli beans. Heat through and then remove from the heat and add the capsicum and parsley, season with more pepper and chilli if needed.

Serve with corn chips, sour cream and grated cheese.

Variations

• Add mince.

• Turn into a potato-top or polenta-topped pie; or use in tortillas for tacos or burritos.

• Use whatever leafy green vegetables you have on hand – silverbeet (including the stalk), kale, spinach, cabbage, bok choy, rocket; even grate in courgette or the stalk from broccoli.